Track and recover your disbursements with the right print and document management solution

Allocating costs and working efficiently are crucial for the smooth operation of a law firm – the right print management solution goes a long way to ensuring your document handling practices protect your clients’ confidentiality, charges are correctly allocated and the critical business driver of disbursements are tightly managed so they can be recovered from clients.

Multi-function printers and copiers are not new. They have been on the market for many years but print management software has significantly improved. Furthermore, the costs to implement have dropped in recent years, giving firms of all sizes access to this capability.

To realise these benefits, there are two important decisions:

Selecting a software solution with cost allocation capabilities so print jobs can be allocated to specific clients

2. Choosing the right multi-function devices that are reliable with the essential functions such as multi-tray support for different paper stock and secure printing so confidential documents aren’t left unsecured in output trays

For example, there might be three teams in one office working with different clients and it’s critical that each team doesn’t have access to anyone else’s documents.

When someone sends a print job to the device, the cover page prints from one paper tray, the main body prints from another with the back page taken from another tray. The pages are collated correctly but they are only released when someone authorised to retrieve the job walks to the printer and authenticates their identity (follow me printing). Once the job is completed, Brother’s software partner PaperCut can allocate the cost of the toner, paper and printer operation to a client.

This reporting goes into significant detail with the ability to cost based on paper size, the use of colour or monochrome printing and duplexing. The cost of each different type of print job can be defined and apportioned with precision. As the data captured by PaperCut is accessible by other applications, it can be sent directly into billing systems so there’s no need to manually handle data.

Once the software is setup, it is user-friendly enough that there’s no need for a technical expert to intervene during each billing cycle.

When it comes to selecting hardware, there are several key factors to consider:

The need for reliable hardware that is supported by a local company who can support with the setup and ongoing operation

Jobs need to print quickly, supporting the use of multiple paper stock, so staff don’t waste time to wait for jobs to appear

Certified integration with PaperCut

All of these tasks must respect the health and safety of staff through quiet operation that doesn’t add unnecessary decibels of noise to the office

Brother offers many print solutions that can satisfy all of those needs and seamlessly work with PaperCut.

For example, the Brother Professional Monochrome range delivers fast monochrome printing and scanning capability with additional trays for paper handling. The flagship machines also have Near Field Communication (tap) built-in to release print jobs with a card through PaperCut.

If your business needs to extend to colour, then Brother’s Professional Colour Laser range will make it easy to add highlights and images to documents.

All of these tools come together to support the critical function of managing client disbursements efficiently, and with Brother and PaperCut, it’s achieved economically. That means your firm can deliver great service, keep control of costs and maintain strong profitability.